Secret Sorcery -- Chapter 1
by Liana Lors
Summary: Liyan lives in Tortall, two years after King Jonathon was overthrown ny the evil Gregary of Turin, who has ordered all those with the Gift to be exiled...


A/N This is my first Tamora Pierce fic. Please note that I've only read the Song of the Lioness quartet and am in the middle of Wild Magic, so if my information on Tortall or anything/anyone else is a bit out of date, you know why. As a disclaimer, all chara's you recognize from the books are property of Tamara Pierce, anyone else is mine. Dun't steal! :P And enjoy the fic! Oh, one more thing, this takes place two years after Protector of the Small and King Jonathan has been overthrown the previous year.  
  
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Gurna Rehu looked at the girl who stood there, her head down and gaze averted shyly. The girls tumble of white-blonde hair hung in loose tangles, and her hands were caked with dirt. She wore a brown dress that hung loosely on her thin frame, and had the overall appearance of a malnourished worker.  
"You say you want to work?" Gurna asked the girl, looking her over critically. She was no more than ten, hardly capable of the work Gurna needed.  
"Yes'm." The girl answered softly, "I really need this job. My mum and can't afford to keep our house otherwise. I'm really good at housework, I've been helping mum since I could walk. Please, ma'am, I need the money..."  
"What's your name? How old are you?" Gurna inquired.  
"Liyan Turfor. I'll be ten next month." The girl glanced up at Gurna. Gurna was shocked to see that the girls eyes, while she expected them to be a pale blue, were a sort of unnatural emerald colour. Gurna stiffened slightly, knowing that odd coloured eyes were often a sign of one with the Gift. Not always, but often.  
"Are you Gifted girl?" Gurna asked sharply. Gifted people had been ordered to be sent directly to the city of Rian, by King Gregary and Queen Penelope. Gurna had no idea how one city would hold so many people, but she supposed that was the King and Queens business.  
"Gifted? No. No, of course not. If I was I would be in Rian with the others." Liyan answered in her soft voice.  
"Your a bit young for work." Gurna said, still critical, "You sure you could handle a maids job?"  
"Please, ma'am. Just try me? If I'm not good enough you could always hire someone else...I really need this." Liyan looked at Gurna pleadingly, when the woman's face remained critical Liyan stuck out her bottom lip dramatically and gave Gurni what she thought to be a sad puppy look, but made her look like she was cross-eyed. To Liyan's relief Gurna laughed at her face.  
"Alright girl, I'll try you. What did you say your name was? Liyan? Well, you'll start now, right away. I need supper ready in half an hour, my husband will be home soon and he likes dinner to be prepared. My youngin', Tanya, is out with her friends, but when she get's back you'll have to clean her up. Oh...and before you do anything go wash that dirt off of your hands." Gurni said, making a face at the caked filth. Liyan's face broke into a grin as she eagerly said 'yes'm' and ran off to wash her hands and begin dinner. Gurna sighed. There was something about that girl...unnatural. *Perhaps she wasn't being all that truthful about not having the Gift?* she thought. She would have to keep a close eye on that one...  
  
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Later that evening Liyan walked home barefoot, humming softly under her breath. The evening had been a busy one, no doubt, but it had payed off. Her job was earning her a silver piece a week, which would surely add up over time. She had felt a pain of guilt though, lying to such a nice family. But if they new she had the Gift they'd send her to Rian surely, and she couldn't bear to be seperated from ma. Besides, she had heard awful stories about that place...  
It was nearly dark as Liyan walked up the path of her house, what was once a barn. The first thing she noticed that seemed a bit odd was that there weren't any lights on. As she walked up to the door Liyan felt a sense of foreboding nearly make her run away. Tentatively she walked into the dark house.  
It was pitch black inside, or almost. The remnents of the setting sun outside let enough light in the house that Liyan could grab a lamp off the table by the door and light it. Looking around she didn't see anything unusual, besides the absence of her ma. She began to climb the ladder to the loft, where she and ma slept, wondering where she had gone off to.  
Liyan let out a horrified scream as her head poked into the loft. The lamp slipped from her trembling hands and crashed to the floor. Oil and flame spilled out onto the dirt, but Liyan didn't take notice, she was far to busy trying to keep from vomiting. So she didn't notice the oil and flame catch on the wooden siding of the house. That is, until she smelled the smoke. She looked down and almost screamed again, but it was cut off as she choked on the thick black smoke coming from the flame below. Yelping Liyan leapt off the ladder in fright. She hit the ground hard and fell as her ankle twisted under her. Crying out in pain she forced herself to get up and hobble out the door.  
The girl was far away from the burning house before she bothered to look back, her eyes wide, twin fires reflecting in them. She stood there in silence, to stunned to even cry, as her entire life burnt into ashes.  
  
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~*One year later*~  
  
Liyan reached the crest of the hill, and gasped. The sight below was wonderous. Corus, the capital of all of Tortall, filled the scene below. Market's and shops and the castle itself combined to form a miraculous sight. She smiled grimly to herself, glad to have finally made it to Corus. It hadn't been easy. Soon after the fire had burnt her life away she had lost her job and been sent to Rian, as Gurni had found out she had the gift. Rian had been awful, worse that she had thought it would be. She had been forced to work endlessly, shipping the other Gifted out of the city to a nearby island. Liyan had learned a lot, though. Those whom were Gifted were considered highly dangerous, contrary to what she had been told origionally(that some without the Gift scared easilly around it). The king had ordered that they were sent away from Tortall after he overthrew King Jonathan and Queen Thayet. Rumor was that he had had a bad experience with a gifted one in the past, but those were only rumors.  
So why was Liyan at Corus? She hadn't known herself at first why she had headed there. Then, as she was passing through a small market, she saw a wanted ad taped to a small post. It had read: Wanted, Alanna of Trebond and Olau. Crime: Public use of the Gift for healing, female warrior. Warning: She is a trained night, and very skilled. Kill if necessary.  
The Lioness was Liyans heroine, as well as many others. How could they hunt her down, just because she was a woman? They also had eliminated the Queens Riders. King Gregary was turning Tortall into a Hell house. And there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. Except...perhaps Liyan could. Yes, indeed she could try. She considered for a time following in Alanna's footsteps and pretending to be a boy while she worked for knighthood. But then she remembered that the King had ordered a sex check from now on. So Liyan thought and thought. Finally she decided to take up work as a servent there. In her private time she would look through the palace's massive library for books on mages and sorcerers. She would learn to control her powers, find others like her. Other Gifted ones hiding it. Then she would kill the King. 


End file.
